This is set word for word towards the end when Chakotay and Samantha Wildman confront Neelix in the episode Mortal Coil. I also got the idea of using an element from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. So if you're familiar with that series, you know what is going on with Neelix.
Neelix was standing on the transporter pad holding a tricorder, just a click of a button before he would initiate the site to site transport that would transport him in the nebula where he supposedly had died before he was brought back to life thanks to Seven of Nine's nanoprobes. He was also looking at Commander Chakotay who was trying to talk Neelix out of committing suicide.
Neelix was upset, confused, frightened. He did not want to live any more. Everything that was told to him about where he would go in the afterlife when his people died was all false. He experienced death and was not greeted by his family. Neelix couldn't live any more. He wanted to die, forget about his life because it was not worth living.
"His function on this crew is diverse," Chakotay was determined to help Neelix step off that transporter pad. "That's what Seven of Nine said about you. Even our Borg understands how important you are on this ship."
Chakotay paused, trying to see if he was getting through to Neelix.
"It's just not just the duties you perform. It's the way you make people feel when you're around," Chakotay added.
Neelix sighed. "That Neelix is gone." It was the truth, at least to what he had felt.
Chakotay shook his head showing a half smile. "I don't think he is."
Suddenly the transporter room doors opened up. It was Samantha Wildman.
"Why don't you answer me?" Wildman questioned not knowing what was going on. "I had to have the computer track you down. Naomi thought she saw a monster in the replicator."
Samantha noticed Neelix wasn't his usual self. She looked at Chakotay who did not say a word and who kept his eyes deadlocked on Neelix the while time.
"Neelix, what's going on?" Samantha questioned.
Neelix was hesitant, confused. "I'm trying to decide some things."
But before anything else was said, Neelix heard another voice.
"Mr. Packwood."
Neelix looked around. That wasn't Chakotay's voice nor wasn't Samantha's voice. Infact, it wasn't any voice he had recognized in the room.
"Mr. Packwood."
Neelix turned around. Suddenly, he wasn't Neelix anymore. He wasn't even Talaxian. He was Human. He was staring at his hands. They no longer had his spots. He touched himself. He didn't have any whiskers on his cheekbones. He felt his head. He was somewhat bald on top but did have some hair on the sides.
Neelix noticed Chakotay and Samantha were gone. He wasn't even on the Voyager anymore, not even in the transporter room. He was in some sort of building with other people, other people with shirts and gowns on. They were all Human. Neelix also noticed someone else right next to him. She had a collard white blouse buttoned up, a white coat, and black pants. She was also holding a clipboard and a pencil.
"Where, where am I?" Neelix asked. "What has happened to me? Who are you?"
The person smiled. "Come now Mr. Packwood, surely you know where you're at," the woman said. "You're in this institution, seeking help. And you know me. I'm Doctor Knier."
Neelix was petrified. Institution? Seeking help? He looked around the room and saw some people sitting, others staring out in space. Is this some sort of psychiatric ward? Neelix thought.
He looked at the so called Doctor Knier. She resembled Seska.
"Come on over here Nick," Doctor Knier said. She gently moved Neelix to a nearby table. "Here you go. Get all comfortable now." Knier allowed Neelix/Nick Packwood to sit in a nearby table.
Knier smiled at him. "Now don't you go wondering off on your little adventures of being on a starship and helping your crew, okay? Walking into other people's rooms and pretending they're a mess hall or a bridge or something else is not what we want for you. We want you to get better." Her words went through Neelix. He was lost, dejected. What was this woman saying? "And please, don't talk to our other patient over there."
Neelix/Nick Packwood looked at to whom Doctor Knier was referring to.
"Benny Russell used to be a great writer before he was locked up here for believing in space adventures and thinking they were real too," Doctor Knier said before moving off.
Neelix looked at Benny Russell. He was a Human. Bald, dark skinned, and wore glasses.
"You're locked up in here for believing in space adventures too?" Russell moved over to Neelix.
"I, I don't know what you're talking about," Neelix/Nick Packwood said. He looked away. He was frightened. Where was he?
"Sure you do," Benny said. "Doctor Knier said you thought you were on a starship." He smiled at Neelix/Nick Packwood. "I created a space station in my story called Deep Space Nine and a black captain called Ben Sisko." Benny's smile faded away. "Before I was locked up here because they wouldn't publish my story and had a nervous breakdown."
Deep Space Nine? Neelix thought. He had heard of that name. Some of the crew including Captain Janeway mentioned that was where they departed from before they got stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But how does this man know of Deep Space Nine?
"So, uh, you had a nervous breakdown?" Neelix/Nick Packwood asked. "How?"
Benny moved in closer. He looked around to make sure none of the others, especially the doctors who were making evaluations of the mental patients, were listening. "They would not publish my story of Captain Sisko and his adventures aboard Deep Space Nine because he was a black person."
For Neelix, this was the first time he had ever heard of someone talk about this sort of topic.
"But you know what?" Benny smiled at Neelix/Nick Packwood. "I'm still going to publish it someday. And you know why?"
Neelix/Nick Packwood looked on at the man and shook his head. "No?"
"Because no matter what happens, no matter what becomes of me, I know I need to be true to myself. They can chip everything away from me in here, but they are never going to take away my idea," Benny said to Neelix very passionately. "I need to live so that Captain Sisko can live. I still have a duty to make this happen. Perhaps this idea will put a smile on people's faces. Perhaps this gives them something to shoot for. But I know if I stopped now, I would not be able to keep on going."
But before Neelix/Nick Packwood could say anything else, he felt himself jolted into another place.
Neelix looked around. He was in some sort of white limbo. He noticed his hands had spots. He felt his face. He felt his whiskers. He was himself. But where was he now.
"Where am I now?" Neelix looked around.
"You, are the Neelix." A voice said.
Neelix looked around and saw Captain Janeway. "Captain? How did you get here? And where is here?"
Janeway moved around Neelix while looking at him in the so called white void. "What you consider your friend, is not who I am."
"I don't understand," Neelix looked displaced. "But you look like Captain Janeway."
"That's because she is not," another voice said.
Neelix turned around and saw Chakotay. But Neelix was no longer in this ominous white limbo. He was back on the Voyager and on the bridge. Chakotay was sitting in his chair.
"Commander?" Neelix looked puzzled.
"The Bajorans refer to us as the Prophets," Chakotay prophet explained. "Religious entities who they worship."
Despite the fact that Neelix was still confused, he had heard of these so called Prophets from some of the Bajoran crewmembers on the ship they considered to be their gods.
"I've heard about you. But if you're supposed to be gods, why are you contacting me?" Neelix asked the Chakotay prophet still sitting in his chair. "I'm not Bajoran. I'm not even in the Alpha Quadrant."
"Because you needed help," another voice said.
Neelix turned and saw Captain Benjamin Sisko in the Voyager mess hall stirring a metal spoon in a pot that was on the oven.
"You?" Neelix recognized the man he saw in the institution.
"We help guide the Sisko and he helps guide us," Sisko prophet said as he continued to stir. "We are aware of things."
"Aware of what?" Neelix questioned. He was baffled by this response. "I'm confused? What does all of this mean?"
The Sisko prophet looked up at Neelix. "You needed guidance, clarification. You needed to be set back on the path."
Neelix suddenly started to realize what he was saying. "You mean back on the path of living?"
"Yes," another voice said.
Neelix turned around and saw Kes. He also realized he was in sickbay.
"You still have many tasks to complete," the Kes prophet said as she approached Neelix and stared at him face to face. "Your life is not fulfilled yet."
"My life? Fulfilled?" Neelix was confused. "I don't understand."
"You will in time," Kes prophet said.
And with that, Neelix found himself back on the transporter pad where he was before looking at Chakotay and Samantha Wildman.
"That little girl needs you Neelix," Chakotay replied. "Monsters in the replicator. Who else on this ship can handle that?"
Suddenly what Neelix had experienced, the visions with the so called Bajoran Prophets, the conversation he had with Benny Russell, all made sense to him now. They were all telling him to keep going even if he had hit a bump in the road.
Neelix handed the tricorder to Chakotay who looked relieved.
Neelix's bottom lip tightened as he walked off the transporter pad and moved towards Samatha Wildman. "Duty calls." He was off to help out little Naomi.
